Archives for 2015

Last night’s fourth Republican presidential debate produced some fireworks but no clear winner. Each candidate was able to hold his (her) own. In lively back and forths, the candidates disagreed on taxes, military spending, foreign policy, immigration and bank bailouts.

But to a man (woman), they all seemed to think Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic presidential nominee. The candidates painted the Democratic front-runner as just your typical tax and spend liberal. They suggested a Hillary win would be a continuation of the failed Obama presidency.

But in a rare occurrence for a Republican presidential debate, Hillary Clinton’s name was invoked more often than that of Saint Reagan.

While there might not have been a clear winner in the Fox debate, there was a loser: Jeb. I say that not because Jeb Bush did not do well; he just did not do well enough. He sorely needed a strong, breakout performance but it never materialized. The problem with Jeb is that his personality is not suited for a debate stage filled with more aggressive, animated candidates. He will always look weak by comparison.

It is fairly certain, however, Jeb will live to fight another day. But the writing seems to be on the wall: barring some miracle, Jeb will not be the Republican presidential nominee.

Besides agreeing that Clinton will ultimately be the Democratic presidential pick, the candidates did agree on some basic Republican orthodoxy: cut taxes and eliminate regulations. They also all agreed that raising the minimum wage was a bad idea.

I did not see anything in last night’s debate that would cut into the poll numbers of the two Republican front-runners, Donald Trump and Ben Carson. I look for Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz to fight for third place … with old Jeb firmly ensconced as a second-tier candidate.

Photo | AP/Morry Gash

What happened to Carly Fiorina? After great performances in the first two Republican debates vaulted her into third place behind the front-runners Trump and Carson, she’s gone AWOL. The media has all but forgotten about the only woman running for the Republican nomination.

After her middling third debate showing, the one-time media darling will be fighting for her political life in tonight’s fourth GOP debate sponsored by Fox Financial Network and the Wall Street Journal.

Fiorina, along with Trump and Carson, are the only candidates who are true Washington outsiders. But unlike Trump and Carson, Fiorina has not been able to exploit her political inexperience.

Fiorina’s claim to fame has always been her business acumen. But as her profile grew, thanks to a cooperative media that needed a new story other than Trump or Carson, so did scrutiny of her stint as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard. The picture presented by the media of the rising political star soon became that of a failed corporate executive.

Without a new narrative to take its place, her political fortunes took a dramatic turn for the worse. The most recent polling has Fiorina in the middle of the Republican presidential pack, in the low single digits, along with second-tier candidates Kasich, Paul and Huckabee.

Another possible reason for Fiorina’s dramatic fall from grace among Republican voters could be the simple fact that she is a she. While Americans have become dramatically more willing to elect a female president over the last quarter-century, there still remains some reluctance, especially among Republicans, as YouGov found in March.

Whatever the reason(s) for her collapse, look for a feisty Fiorina to come out swinging among the field of seven men who will be looking to land some punches of their own.

Photo | huffingtonpost.com

Speaking at the National Religious Liberties Conference in Iowa last week, Republican presidential candidate, Sen.Ted Cruz, was quoted as saying, “ Any president who doesn’t begin every day on his knees isn’t fit to be the commander-in-chief of this country.”

The statement was made after right-wing pastor, Kevin Swanson, introduced Cruz to the stage and asked him how important it was for candidates to submit to Jesus Christ as “the king of the President of the United States.”

Wow! Exactly how, and when, did the Republican Party become the Party of God? When did Jesus become a Republican presidential candidate? The MSM completely missed that one!

Of course, Christian fundamentalism is a big part of Cruz’s appeal. Since being elected to the Senate in 2012, he has railed against “radicals and liberals” trying to strip religion out of the public sphere.

The problem for Cruz, Carson and some of the other “holy” panderers is that there just aren’t enough “religionists’ to ever elect one of them president. Thank God!

What I pray for everyday, Sen. Cruz, is for the day when someone like you is not seen as a viable candidate for the White House but one for the psych ward; when a candidate espousing views like yours is deemed mentally ill and automatically disqualified to hold public office.

I know that day is in the distant future, but a man can dream cant he? I’m guessing that day of the “New Enlightenment” is 100+ years away.

Like Martin Luther King Jr., I dream of the day when politicians will not be judged by their professed belief in a mythical sky creature but by the extent of their rational faculties.

Photo | Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

In a severe blow to his presidential bid, Gov. Chris Christie will not be one of the Republican presidential candidates taking part in next week’s debate hosted by Fox Financial Network. Christie failed to average 2.5% in the four most recent national polls used by the network to determine eligibility.

What a stunning reversal of fortune for the Republican once viewed in the same light as Hillary Clinton: a lock for their party’s presidential nomination. The New Jersey governor was arguable the most popular politician in the country not that long ago. Now he will be sitting at the kid’s table for the upcoming debate, along with Huckabee, Jindal, and Santorum.

Ironically, much of Christie’s fall can actually be traced to the liberal media. It was Rachel Maddow who picked up on a little known story about the closure of some lanes on the George Washington Bridge that eventually turned into a national scandal.

The closure of two of the three access lanes from Fort Lee to the Washington Bridge turned out to be political payback for the town’s Democrat mayor, Mark Sokolich, refusal to endorse Christie’s reelection bid for governor. Of course Christie, to this day, has denied involvement in the ordering of the lane closures and has basically thrown members of his staff under the bus.

But the damage was done. As more reporters picked up on the story, the American public learned what citizens of New Jersey knew all along: the man is a vindictive bully. Other New Jersey politicians started accusing Christie of misdeeds. The mayor of Hoboken, to name just one example, claimed that Christie’s office pressured her to approve a big development project represented by a Christie crony—or risk losing recovery aid for damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

The “Bridgegate” scandal is ongoing. While one Christie associate, David Wildstein, pleaded guilty in May on two criminal counts, the federal trial of two other allies, Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni, is still pending. Originally scheduled for this past July, and then September, the trial has now been delayed to April 2016.

What has been most amazing about Christie’s presidential run is that he chose to seek the Republican nomination while still not out of the woods on “Bridgegate.” More people could face charges connected to the notorious Fort Lee traffic jam, including Christie himself.

Unlike the access lanes to the bridge, this scandal is far from closed.

Photo | huffingtonpost.com